Alexis A. Hunter

Goldfish Grimm: If we could peek into your office (coffee shop, kitchen table, wherever you write), what would your writing process look like?

Alexis A. Hunter: Nine times out of ten, I’m wearing pajamas or ‘comfy clothes’ while sitting on the couch with my laptop. Often, I work with headphones in – listening to something dark or emotional, preferably without words. I work fast, especially when inspired, so you’ll hear the clatter of my fingers on the keyboard and see the glow from the screen reflected on my face. That’s about it – everything else about my process is all in my head.

GFG: Was there anything in particular that inspired “The Vast Weight of Their Bleeding Hearts”?

AAH: I wrote this story during Story-a-Day May 2013. The challenge is fairly self-explanatory: write a story every day in May. Anyway, one of the prompts was to go to Wikipedia and pick something from the “news” category. I selected the article about some “RoboBees” developed by a research robotics team at Harvard. While the bees remained a part of the story, I deviated a bit and focused more on Tango and Gordon’s relationship. I’ve long been intrigued by human/AI romance, so that colored this story pretty heavily.

GFG: A lot of characters in fiction behave in obsessive ways. What do you think it is that makes this an interesting character attribute?

AAH: I think obsession is an interesting character attribute for a number of reasons. I like reading about obsessed characters because they are so passionate. They’re not flat and bland like everyday life can sometimes be – they’re animated, they’re driven and that’s a character I can easily invest in. In a lot of ways and in a lot of stories, that passion can be so destructive that it endears the character to me still more. Even if it’s a good thing they’re after – justice, love, what have you – taking it too far can ultimately destroy them, but it’s still an impulse which I, for one, understand and sympathize with.

GFG: What’s the best thing you’ve read in 2013?

AAH: That’s such a tough question! The Glitter & Mayhem anthology really astounded me with its amazing quality throughout. I can’t even pick one story — they were each so unique, so gorgeous and so enjoyable to read. Another favorite this year was “All My Princes Are Gone” by Jennifer Giesbrecht, which I recently listened to in one of Nightmare‘s podcasts.

GFG: Do you have anything you’d like to plug or promote?

AAH: The project I’m most excited about right now is a weird western series I wrote, entitled “By the Gun”. Each story stands alone, but there’s also a larger plot that stretches throughout the whole series. There are four stories total and the first three have already been published in Spark: A Creative Anthology, Volumes I, II & III. The final story in the series – “Just One More Sin” – is scheduled to be published in Volume IV in January. I’ve really enjoyed the challenge and adventure of writing a series, I adore the characters and, even setting my own interests aside, I really believe in Spark: A Creative Anthology. They’re doing good things. I’d like to see more people give them a read.